2.20.2011

The State of the (Hot)lantic 10 - Week 7

Well, that was fun. We heard it all year. "Xavier is going to be in big trouble."; "They don't have the depth"; "Injuries will catch up to this team."; "Towards the end of the season, just wait, they'll break down." Yeah......right. Xavier is now in the driver's seat(actually they were after they smothered Duquesne in the final 12 minutes of last week's game). At 11-1, and their remaining games against LaSalle, @UD, Charlotte and @SLU, I'd say 15-1 is in the works. Even at 14-2, they hold the tie-breaker over Temple. Duquesne and Richmond faded into the sun and we are left with the two teams everyone originally thought would be competing for the championship. I guess while we are at it, we'll give the Player of the Year Award to Terrell Tu Holloway. He just recorded a ridiculous triple-double against a high school team Fordham on Saturday night...26 Points, 11 Rebounds and 10 Assists. Other than that though, he didn't do a whole lot. Who wants to be Jim Baron this week? They lost to UMASS, who was coming off defeats to SLU, SJU, GW and Duquesne...by 6...at home. I have to hand it to Kellogg, he knows how to turn around a team coming off a blowout loss. Well...he has a lot of attempts and experience at it too. Then you have Duquesne, losing by one to Dayton in the world's most famous arena in Ohio. Hey, at least it keeps Duquesne's streak alive. Yup, that's right, all 17 wins are by double digits. The Dukes can't win the close ones, but they can sure blow you out!...I don't want to do this, but it's time for the weekly, "Is is time for Martelli to go" discussion. In danger of missing the campus site portion of the A10 tournament, Martelli needs to get this going, and in a hurry. He should be around next year, but you never know in this crazy world of college hoops. Oh, and circle March 5th at Charlotte, that's the play-in game for the 12 seed. The winner gets a trip to(likely) Pittsburgh or Kingston, RI. I hear Rhode Island is lovely in early March...

TEAM OF THE WEEK: With their backs up to the NIT wall, the Dayton Flyers came up big this week to keep their 10-6 pre-season expectations as a realistic goal. They crushed Charlotte and squeaked out a one point win against Duquesne. Congrats Flyers. Up Next: A beatdown by Xavier.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tu Holloway...Again

GAME OF THE WEEK: Dayton/Duquesne. With just over 6 seconds left in the game, the Flyers throw a home run ball down the floor(up by 1). The great Chris Wright sees green grass in front of him and tries to go in for the jam. But, he fumbles it out of bounds. Fortunately, the Dukes didn't have a real strong effort in the final 3.8 seconds. The Flyers hung on for a 1 point win.

DUD OF THE WEEK: Fighting for a number 4 seed and a bye in Atlantic City, the Rams did themselves no favors bu a dropping a home contest to UMASS. Yikes.

STAT LINE YOU PROBABLY MISSED OF THE WEEK: Dayton won both of their games this week. Chris Wright played 29 minutes(combined), scored 7 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, had 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 blocks. Am I reading to much into him being a non-factor in their wins?

SURPRISE TEAM OF THE WEEK: UMASS blows up URI...Never saw that one coming.